Empress Elisabeth of L'Oréal

Empress Elisabeth of L'Oréal (born Princess Olga Petrovna Irene-Aquitania-L'Oréal; born 7 July [O.S. 24 June] 1907) was Empress of L'Oréal and Queen of Frank by marriage to Emperor Wilhelm I. She was born into the royal Winian House of Irene-Aquitania, having renounced her birth house [upon her marriage] and henceforth becoming a member of the House of L'Oréal; a new Imperial dynasty and Imperial family founded by her husband [Wilhelm]. She and her husband [Wilhelm] were brother-sister; Wilhelm was the eldest son of their family and Elisabeth was one of the 'middle' daughters in their family. She was a daughter of Emperor Luke I of L'Oréal [her father] and Empress Margaret Wilhelmina of L'Oréal [her mother]. Nicknamed Elga (also Helga), she was raised in an restrictive and extremely formal rigid court life before marrying Emperor Wilhelm I at the age of fourteen. With the assassination of her parents, the entire court was plunged into mourning. She and her husband eventually decided to model their court life in a similar fashion to the Swedish royal court, leading to a less stricter and less rigid court life. Her siblings are Wilhelm I of L'Oréal [her husband], Grand Duke Rudolph Xandrovich of L'Oréal, Prince Eren Alexandrovich of L'Oréal, Grand Duke Augustus Xandrovich of L'Oréal, Grand Duke Oskar Petrovich of L'Oréal, Grand Duke Albrovich of L'Oréal, Grand Duchess Matilda Xandrovna of Winia, Grand Duchess Olga Xandrovna of L'Oréal, Grand Duchess Tatiana Petrovna of L'Oréal, Grand Duchess Maria Albrovna of L'Oréal, Grand Duchess Anastasia Albarovna of L'Oréal and Grand Duchess Alexei of L'Oréal. Likewise, her mistresses are Alice d'Aubigné, Marquise de Maintenon, her Maîtresse-en-titre [chief royal mistress] and Agrippina d'Aubigné [her secondary royal mistress]. Her legimente children are Frederick VIII of L'Oréal, Victoria, First Lady of India, Alexandra, Empress of Russia, Prince Apollo of Greece and Denmark, Princess Thyra of L'Oréal, Princess Valdemar of L'Oréal, Princess Françoise of L'Oréal, Princess Margrethe of L'Oréal, Princess Louise of L'Oréal, Princess Marie of L'Oréal, Princess Helene of L'Oréal, Princess Isabella of L'Oréal, Princess Anna of L'Oréal, Princess Margareta of L'Oréal, Princess Elena of L'Oréal, Princess Lily of L'Oréal, Princess Whitney of L'Oréal, Princess Tulip of L'Oréal, Princess Irina of L'Oréal, Princess Maria Antónia of L'Oréal, Princess Adelaide of L'Oréal, Princess Agnes of L'Oréal, Princess Sophie of L'Oréal, Princess Gisela of L'Oréal, Princess Elisabeth Franziska of L'Oréal, Princess Hedwig of L'Oréal, Princess Marie-Thérèse of L'Oréal, Princess Rosa of L'Oréal, Princess Henriette Adélaïde of L'Oréal, Princess Elizabeth of L'Oréal, Princess Iniga of L'Oréal, Princess Charlotte Aglaé of L'Oréal, Princess Philippine Élisabeth of L'Oréal and Princess Louise Diane of L'Oréal. Her illegitimate children are: Louisa Anna Hunter, Louis, Count of Versailles, Louise Françoise Hunter, Duchess of La Valli, Louise Marie Anne Hunter and Jeanne Hunter. Her only children by her first marriage [to Princess Marguerite of L'Oréal; her distant cousin] were: Grand Duchess Alexa Petrovna of L'Oréal and Grand Duke Leopold Petrovich of L'Oréal. After the assassination of her own husband on the eve of Christmas, Empress Elisabeth became regent of the L'Oréal Empire during the minority of Prince Frederick VIII of L'Oréal [her eldest child and eldest son]. She was styled Empress Dowager Elisabeth directly after the assassination of her husband and was given the title of High Empress by the Imperial Privy Council during the course of her entire reign. A large majority of her younger children never married, forcing their older siblings to make dynastic matches for the sake of preserving the realm`s peace. Princess Stéphanie of Belgium was a close confidant of the Empress whom often relied on her harsh criticism of the people around herself [even herself] to prevent herself [Elisabeth] from becoming too idealistic. Known as Empress Mother Elisabeth the Great, she was the second ruler [empress consort] of the L'Oréal dynasty and the favorite godmother of Princess Dorothea of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha. Her husband was accepting of her ex-martial affairs and even encouraged them, as he was considerably quite frail in comparison to his wife; thus in order to produce more children [and by virtue more heirs] his wife was greatly encouraged to have affairs with both men and women [other than her husband] aside from her husband.

Appearance and personality
Noted as the "most beautiful of the late Emperor and Empresses' daughters" by many of her personal companions [ladies-in-waiting], to the point where even the late Empress Maria Feodorovna praised her beauty and claimed that she could "even rival the Greek deity Aphrodite in terms of her sheer beauty." Princess Beatrice of the United Kingdom also highly praised her beauty, deeming her the "most beautiful Russian Orthodox princess of the European nations." Anna Vyrubova [one of her former ladies-in-waiting before her retirement] described her as "frighteningly tall; to the point where she towered over a majority of the noblewomen and even her own sisters at the Imperial court. Yet there was a gentle and peaceful air of elegance about her; she was essentially a gentle giant." As noted by Anna Vyrubova, the Empress [Princess Olga Petrovna at the time] was extremely tall for her age; being often mistaken for an older woman by many of the foreign diplomats at court. Unlike a majority of her relatives [maternal or paternal]; she had an elegant "bearing" to her and it appeared as if she was floating when she walked. Sophie Buxhoeveden made a similar comment describing her as "tall as an ancient tree, yet elegant and graceful as a swam taking to the air; perfectly poised even when sitting down or playing with her children, her back ramrod straight as if a wooden pole had been inserted in the back of her corset." An Imperial courtier commented favorably about her "elegant stature and her large rich dark chocolate brown eyes beneath long lashes." In 1919, her daughters' tutor Pierra Gilliard wrote that "the Empress Dowager was still a beautiful woman at that time. It was if time itself had stopped in it`s tracks; even in all of the years I spent with her, it seemed as if she never aged at all, she remained the same."

Despite her high status, Elisabeth was stern but gentle to the point where even her own relatives were afraid of invoking her wrath. The only nicknames that can be found for her using primary sources are 'Elga' in a postcard from Princess Maria Antónia of L'Oréal [one of her younger daughters] and 'Helga' in some notes from her sister, Matilda Xandrovich. According to one story, Elisabeth was left in a state of heavily annoyance and irritation after Gregory P. Tschebotarioff accidently called her "Your Imperial Highness"; this resulted in Gregory nearly being thrown out of a window by the future Empress [a mere Imperial princess at the time]. When she was 14, Grand Duchess Tatiana Nikolaevna of Russia met the future Empress and described her as "quite tall for her age; she easily towered over most members of her family, yet she harbored a rather sweet and gentle nature towards her. It was a startling contrast to her somewhat frightening appearance." Her parents described her as the "backbone of the Imperial family" in reference to her being the "glue" that held their family together.

Elisabeth was a practical, nurturing leader during her youth, losing that trait as she grew into adulthood, with her nurturing nature being replaced with steadfast nature. Her sisters and brothers gave her the nickname "The Governess" and sent her to represent them when they wanted their parents to grant a favour to them. Despite one of the younger children of her parents, she was seemly more mature than a large majority of them and acted as the "mother" of her siblings [whether older or younger].

Early life
Elisabeth was born on 7 July [O.S. 24 June] 1907. She was the third child and first-born daughter of Emperor Luke I and Empress Matilda. She weighed 3.9 kg at birth, and her mother`s physician used forceps in her birth. When she regained consciousness from the chloroform used during the delivery, the Empress became elated upon seeing the "surprised and adoring faces" around her and happily commented: “After so many sons and only one frail daughter; I have borne another daughter. I wonder what I should name her?" Her mother [Empress Matilda], was a native Austrian-German speaker yet she grew up speaking Russian, Greek and British-English more than she did her mother`s native Austro-Bavarian. Her father [Luke I] was a native Russian speaker, thus she gravitated more towards his language than she did her mother`s Austrian-German. Her mother wrote to Emperor Franz Joseph I of Austria, "‘Olga’ we gave for ‘Helena’ as they murder my name here: ‘Hel-lena’ they pronounce it, so we thought ‘Olga’ could not so easily be spoilt.” Her mother gave her the nickname of "Vogel", due to her affinity and unusual love for [with] animals, especially avians [birds], a name later adopted by her husband. Her Austrian relatives nicknamed her as "Helga", to distinguish her from her mother Matilda, the eldest daughter of Emperor Franz Joseph I of Austria, who was also known within the family as Helena.

Proposed matches
Her parents [before their deaths] had admitted to wanting her [Elisabeth] to marry outside of their small family, even if they were a commoner [something that would have scandalized the other European courts]. Her two elder siblings: Wilhelm and Grand Duchess Matilda Xandrovna of L'Oréal disapproved of her marrying outside the family. Princess Alix of Hesse and by Rhine [later the sole consort of her second-oldest brother Rudolph] held an extremely clear favoritism towards the L'Oréalan Grand Duchess, greatly pushing her to accept the suit of Prince Friedrich of Hesse and by Rhine several years her senior. On 2 March 1919, Alix wrote to her oldest sister Princess Victoria of Hesse and by Rhine that "Our dear brother Friedrich has his heart set on the only woman who he deems worthy of his love, the Grand Duchess Olga Petrovna Irene-Aquitania of L'Oréal; he has declared that he shall marry her. Long has he searched for the only woman for him and he has finally found her! What joy at last!" George V was greatly opposed to the marriage, as the Grand Duchess Olga [later Empress Elisabeth] was a woman of Imperial birth, rather than royal birth; the people of the L'Oréal Empire heavily protested against the proposed marriage. Yet Olga was deeply interested in the idea of marrying outside of her small family circle, preferring Princess Helen of Waldeck and Pyrmont and even proposed to the German Princess by letter. The princess refused her marriage proposal and instead extended an offer of friendship; in exchange, Elisabeth offered one of her nieces up to Helen, who agreed to the secret marriage. Helen proposed for Olga to marry the only child of the reigning Queen of the Netherlands, which Olga refused to do, putting the German princess into a tough situation. Reluctantly she suggested Princess Alix of Hesse and by Rhine [whom Helen abhorred], a situation which shocked the Imperial Family. Prince Ernest Louis of Hesse and by Rhine was suggested as a possible marriage partner for the young Grand Duchess [by her parents before their deaths], yet she and her siblings rejected his proposal due to his social status being deemed "too low", infuriating Princess Alix of Hesse and by Rhine [Prince Ernest`s youngest sister]. Instead his cousins and immediate family members heavily encouraged her to marry Princess Marguerite of L'Oréal [a member and male-line offspring of her father`s morganatic marriage to a chambermaid of Empress Matilda; Olga`s mother]. In 1920, her siblings invited Olga and Marguerite to Francisca in hopes that they would fall in love. Marguerite grew infatuated with her and proposed to her, much to the disappointment and anger of Alix [later Grand Duchess Alexandra Feodorovna] Olga accepted her proposal. Prince Wilhelm [the eldest brother of the Grand Duchess] was infuriated, declaring that Olga had been in his words "promised to him since the day she was born"; Olga replied with "not of my own free will though!" Wilhelm attempted to propose to her but Olga refused to listen to his pleads, having decided that they were not worth listening to. Her maternal grandfather Emperor Franz Joseph I of Austria disapproved of a marriage between Wilhelm and Olga, seeing it as "unnatural" and "incest of the most aggressive form of sin" in the eyes of his religion. Similarly, he disapproved of Olga`s engagement to Princess Marguerite of L'Oréal, yet was more forgiving of it [by far] more than a engagement between Wilhelm and Olga.

Engagement
In 18 December 1913, Olga attended the marriage of Grand Duchess Elizabeth Feodorovna of Russia and Grand Duke Sergi Alexandrovich of Russia`s only granddaughter Grand Duchess Marie Feodorovna of Russia to Archduke Adalbert of Austria [one of her maternal Austrian relatives] in St. Petersburg. At this wedding, the 6-year-old Olga met the 41-year-old Princess Alix of Hesse and by Rhine, great-aunt of the bride and a close friend of her parents. In her diary Olga called Alix "her most dearest and closest friend" and declared "Alix is only worthy of somebody who will treat her well; one of my younger brothers will do nicely." The princesses spent the entire wedding seated next to each other, even teaching each other languages; furthermore as the Imperial court depended on Russian [to a great extreme] greatly as the only language spoken in the court itself, Alix was required to learn Russian in order to communicate with Olga.

Wedding
Main article: Wedding of Olga Petrovna and Marguerite Alexandrovna

On 24 January 1917, Olga and Marguerite were married. Both girls wore dresses of silk and crinoline, with extensively embroided collars of ruby-coloured silk and practically "dripping" with a glittering collection of jewels; the wedding was designed to be as extravagant as possible by her parents, as she was "technically" 'middle' daughter. Princess Alix of Hesse and by Rhine attended the wedding ceremony and was pleased by her closest friend [during her later years of adulthood] becoming satisfied and settling down in her own marriage. The extremely capricious Empress Elisabeth of Austria attended the wedding ceremony and nuptials with many of her grandchildren, describing the wedded couple as "extremely young and impressionable" in terms of political alliances.

Second Wedding
Main article: Wedding of Wilhelm I and Elisabeth Feodorovna

On 25 October 1921, Luke I died at the age of twenty-two. Wilhelm was confirmed as Tsar Wilhelm I. The next day, Olga was received into the L'Oréal Orthodox Church [for the second time] as "the truly believing Grand Duchess Elisabeth Feodorovna." Olga took on the name of "Elisabeth" instead of Yekaterina like her brother fiercely asked for. She repudiated Lutheranism and renounced her former faith, in order to convert. She also renounced her birth house: Irene-Aquitania and subsequently became a member of the House of L'Oréal. Her favorite sister: Grand Duchess Alexei Albarovna of L'Oréal was the one who helped her prepare to become the Empress of L'Oréal. On 26 November 1921, Elisabeth and Wilhelm married in the Grand Church of the Winter Palace [the Winter Palace having been purchased for usage by the Empress Elisabeth and her husband Wilhelm in the aftermath of the Russian Revolution] of Saint Petersburg. Court mourning could be relaxed because it was the birthday of Elisabeth and Wilhelm`s favorite sister, now Dowager Duchess Alexei Albarovna. Elisabeth had vehemently protested celebrating a marriage so soon after the death of their parents, considering it a deep "betrayal" to both the Imperial court and their immediate family. Ultimately Elisabeth failed in convincing her brother and fiancée to wait, before reluctantly agreeing to marry him on 26 November 1921; something that she would later label as a "mistake" in her biography. Elisabeth herself wrote to Joseph Stalin [a Russian politician]: "My fiancée will not listen when I say that marrying so soon after a death will bring misfortune! We may be cursed unless you do something, anything! Surely you can change my fiancée mind, after all you are somebody that he admires a lot."

Coronation
Main article: Coronation of Wilhelm II and Elisabeth Feodorovna

On 14 May 1929, Elisabeth and Wilhelm were publicly crowned [for the second time] at the Dormition Cathedral in the Kremlin, as guests of the Soviet Union`s leader and leading Politician, Joseph Stalin whom had fallen in love with one of Elisabeth`s relatives, her sister-in-law Princess Miriam of Georgia who had recently had become widowed with the death of the Empress`s [Elisabeth] youngest brother [Grand Duke Alexander Albrovich of L'Oréal] upon the marriage and subsequent coronation of his second-eldest sister. Yet the Empress refused to acquiesce to the marriage, preferring one of her other relatives as she was deeply fond of both Miriam and Grand Duke Alexander, refusing to agree to the marriage without both of their consents. Eventually she caved to the marriage, though she forbid Miriam from living or even traveling to Russia, harboring a fear that she would be killed by communists.

Acceptance by the L'Oréalan people
Elisabeth was extremely popular among her husband’s L'Oréalan subjects even more than her own husband. Her militaristic nature was one of

Abilities
A former assassin and prominent female soldier for the L'Oréal Empire and Jōnin level kunoichi of the Empire`s Imperial family, Elisabeth's former rank alone suggest that she is a highly powerful individual, even her own children fear her notorious violent reputation that earned the L'Oréal Empire the nickname of "The Empire of Devils"; something which follows them to this day. Being trained to use many different weapons, Elisabeth is a master of various different fighting styles and strategies, a disciplined and calculating combatant. Her prowess has aided her well when it comes to defending her home, to the point where even her own family members fear her [by mere reputation] when she acts in the interest of her country. The mere uttering of her name is said to be enough to make people stiffen in horror or drive them into madness, suggesting that she had a deadly reputation for killing people during her active service years in the Empire`s military.

Quotes

 * "I am unrelenting as the waves, great and regal as Alexandra of Denmark. I am the person whom even the gods fear themselves." (To Wilhelm I)
 * "A friend is someone who knows all about you and still loves you." (To Luke I)
 * "Anyone can give up, it's the easiest thing in the world to do. But to hold it together when everyone else would understand if you fell apart, that's true strength."
 * "I thought that I understood everything in the world but in truth, I knew nothing."
 * "We are only as strong as we are united, as weak as we are divided."
 * "Once someone's hurt you, it's harder to relax around them, harder to think of them as safe to love. That luxury of trust, I don`t allow myself to be driven to that extreme."
 * "Usurpers are the same regardless of the era, they always crave power and will do anything even murder a countless number of innocents in order to grasp that power in their greedy hands."
 * "I believe the root of all evil is abuse of power."

Trivia
She is the oldest known living monarch in history [at this point];
 * Grand Duchesses, like Empress Elisabeth [of L'Oréal], who have seven or less siblings, who then produce legimente or whom legalize their offspring upon marrying their mistress or mistresses, with their children numbering more than their siblings are required to style their children as Imperial Princesses/Imperial Princes rather being allowed to style them as Grand Duchesses/Grand Dukes. However, because they are children [or sometimes even grandchildren] of a reigning emperor/empress and their consort, they are ranked higher than their non-Imperial cousins.
 * Despite her father having only two siblings still living [two surviving older sisters] by the time that his future successor: Wilhelm I was born, the only siblings that remained from his parents` reign was the future Empress of the Winian Empire, Princess Elizabeth II and Grand Duchess Alice Feodorovna of Winia [his domineering older sister and extremely powerful confidant]. At the time when her grandparents` reign had just began, her father [Luke I] had around a hundred and eighty-two siblings, most of whom married young and died from outbreak of diseases outside of the country. Thus she was styled an Imperial Princess [at birth] upon her subsequent baptization and not a Grand Duchess or Archduchess [unlike her mother] who retained both styles [for future usage] upon her marriage.
 * Due to Elisabeth also producing more than the allotted [number] seven children, all of her children are styled as Imperial Princesses rather than Grand Duchesses/Grand Dukes.
 * Empress Alexandra Feodorovna of Winia is the aunt and eldest sister-in-law [by marriage] of Empress Elisabeth of L'Oréal, as Alexandra married Elizabeth III of Winia, the daughter of Elizabeth II of Winia and the youngest sister of Empress Elisabeth: Princess Alexa of L'Oréal.
 * Technically her maiden surname was "Irene-Aquitania" so in common law, her full name would be written as "Elisabeth Feodorovna" (née Irene-Aquitania) or it could even be written as "Elisabeth Feodorovna" (née Petrovna Irene-Aquitania), as Petrovna is technically a patronymic and could qualify as a surname [underneath] in some circumstances and situations.
 * Petrovna [her patronymic] is derived from unnamed sources, presumably a deceased relative of her father [Luke].
 * Furthermore, Luke mentions having a "sibling" [male or female] by the name of either "Peter" or "Petra" but it is more likely that his sibling was a male, as Petrovna is a patronymic rather than a matronymic.
 * Empress Elisabeth was actually born with sixty-six sisters and sixty-six brothers, totaling 132 siblings in total. By the time of her parents` deaths in 1920, she had 200 sisters and 799 brothers. By the time of her parents` deaths in 1920, she had 999 sisters and brothers.